Dundalk vs Zenit Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Dundalk are having a ridiculous season considering their stature in world football. They went further than ever before in Champions League qualification as they made it all the way to the Playoffs before being knocked out by Legia Warsaw, but that still granted them qualification to the Europa League group stages for the first time in their history.

This all occurred whilst they were completely dominating the League of Ireland Premier Division. They have continued to do so, with their 3-0 win over Longford Town on Monday putting them seven points clear at the top of the table with a huge 71 points from their 30 matches.

Dundalk haven’t shied away from action in the Europa League either, and they have more than held their own in the group stages so far. They began with an impressive 1-1 draw at AZ Alkmaar and followed this with a 1-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv to put them 2nd in the group behind Zenit. They have a three point lead over 3rd placed AZ, so it’s a real possibility that they could make it to the knockout stages.

Both of Dundalk’s goals in the Europa League have come courtesy of Ciaran Kilduff, taking his tally in the Europa League and the Premier Division to eight in total. This is joint second in Dundalk’s squad with Daryl Horgan, whilst David McMillan is leading the scoring charts with 15 league goals. McMillan comes in at an impressive 15/4 to score anytime with bet365, so he might be worth a couple of quid.

Zenit are understandably favourites for this one, although I think the bookies are perhaps overestimating them slightly. They are in excellent form, with their 2-0 win over Ural on Sunday making it nine wins and four draws in their last 13 outings in all competitions. They beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-3 away from home and AZ 5-0 at home in the Europa League, so they are the team to beat in this group.

Brazilian attacker Guiliano is their main threat with eight goals to his name in league and europe this season, whilst Artem Dzyuba has five goals and Aleksandr Kokorin has netted in both Europa League group games so far. Guiliano, who is the top scorer for Zenit and has scored in seven of their last nine games in all competitions, is the best priced of these three at 7/5 to score anytime. Zenit are expected to win big on Thursday, but I think they’re poor value with such short odds. Instead, I’d recommend backing Guiliano to Score Anytime at 7/5 along with a 3-1 win for Zenit at 10/1.